Lyrics reflect heartfelt emotions
After her son's deployment, woman composes song, and soldier's sister, 6, lends voice to project.

By Ron Jackson

Published: December 18, 2006

CACHE — Cindy Martin had nowhere to put her emotions earlier this year when she learned her 22-year-old son, Army Spc. Shaun Martin, was being sent to war in Iraq. So she poured them into lyrics for a song that had no music.

After her son's deployment from Fort Lewis, Wash., in June, Martin put the lyrics to music that seemed to flow effortlessly from her piano.

"The music just came right to me,” said Martin, who teaches private piano lessons from her home. "It was a God-given thing, as if this was the time for that song.”

The song, "When Are You Coming Home,” is gaining momentum in local circles. From the family's cozy living room east of Cache to the familiarity of the Martin's local church, the song has since made its way into a live nativity set, to company gatherings and onto the airwaves of a Lawton radio station.

The final ingredient to the song came from Shaun Martin's 6-year-old sister, Heather Martin, who sings the song with just enough innocence and love to make listeners choke up.

In the chorus, Heather's tiny voice rises in pitch with the urgency of her message: "In my prayers, I ask God to keep you safe/And I'm trying to be really brave/Tell me that the fighting's through/Come home! I really miss you.”

"The song sounded fine when I sang it,” Martin said. "But it's just perfect coming from Heather's little voice.”

"I'm sad he's in Iraq,” Heather said with a frown. "I just don't know why we can't all get on a plane and bring him back home.”

Naturally, the song struck a nerve with Heather's big brother.

"He played the song for his buddies,” said Bob Martin, Shaun Martin's father. "He said he really had to fight back the tears.”

In the Martin household, the thought of Christmas without the eldest of five children is inconceivable. Last Christmas, Shaun Martin dressed as Santa and spoiled his siblings and parents with special gifts. Heather received a pink bicycle with a built-in lunch pouch.

Shaun Martin feared he wouldn't be with his family this year for Christmas. He was right.

This year, Shaun Martin is somewhere in Iraq, where his mother said he is helping to conduct house-to-house searches.

"Naturally, we worry about him all the time,” Bob Martin said. "But we are very proud of him, that he wants to do this for his country. ... I would just hope all the soldiers and their families would get a chance to hear this song.

"I think it would mean a lot to a lot of people.”